absum : the art of seeing
by MorbidlyCurious
Summary: Kagami definitely isn't the most perceptive guy, but he'll (hopefully) eventually learn the art of seeing. Multi-chap. Kurogami, M/M, Underage, some OOC. Kagami-centric. Mostly canon. Mentions of past Kuroko/KnS. WARNING: This is a long one. Rated M for sexual themes and profanity.
1. I Am Kuroko

**A/N: Couldn't help myself. Alright, this will be a long one. Very long. It'll pretty much follow the manga's timeline to a T. Dialogue was taken heavily from the manga and from the anime, but the endgame is all mine.**

 **Disclaimer: Tadatoshi Fujimaki is the true master here. Thanks for a lovely premise, fun characters, and great series.**

 **WC: 5,000**

* * *

1\. I Am Kuroko

Taiga Kagami sighed and folded his hands behind his head, blinking slowly as he stood towards the back of the crowd of people. He had no real expectations for the year; he only hoped that the basketball team at Seirin High wasn't _too_ awful.

Dozens of high schoolers milled about like tiny ants, and as usual, Kagami towered above the vast majority of them. He internally sighed and began walking.

 _No hope here._

Then, Kagami noticed three boys in the middle of the walkway, desperately brandishing flyers at any male who happened by. As he drew closer, he was able to hear their words: "Basketball! Basketball club!"

Kagami made his way through the crowd of animated teenagers and stopped in front of the nearest of the three guys.

"Are you guys in the basketball club?" Kagami asked, feeling the final vestiges of his hope shrivel up and die in his chest as the boy stared up at him with immense trepidation.

"U-uh…yes? Yes! We are," the boy stuttered out eventually. For a few moments, his oddly-shaped lips formed words and no sound escaped. "I'm Koganei, this is Izuki, and that's Mitobe," he introduced himself after a few more moments. Kagami did a quick once over of the shorter, smiling boy and the taller, silent boy. "Are you interested in joining?"

Without a word, Kagami single-handedly lifted Koganei up by his collar to his own eye level. "Direct me to the booth."

Dumbfounded, Koganei complied, petulant tears leaking out of his eyes as he did so.

The basketball booth seemed to be run by a small, short-haired girl and a very average-looking boy with glasses. As Kagami approached, Koganei still in hand, he caught the tail end of their conversation.

" – wonder how the recruitment is going? I hope they bring in some promising new guys…" the girl said, gazing around the area.

At this point, Kagami had reached the booth, and he silently presented Koganei to the pair sitting at the table.

"I brought a new student," Koganei said, voice wobbling as he attempted to maintain some degree of dignity. Kagami stifled the laugh that bubbled up in his throat.

The girl looked up and made an odd choking noise.

"Is this the basketball club?" he asked instead, glaring down at the pair. _Just to be sure. Maybe these guys aren't really it._

"Yeah," the girl replied after a short, strained pause.

 _Damn_ , he thought as he stared into the girl's unsettled face.

"I want to join," Kagami answered, carelessly releasing his vice grip on Koganei's uniform and proceeding to forget that he existed. "The basketball club."

A small smile formed on the girl's face as Kagami slumped down in the tiny folding chair. He grunted uncomfortably, backing up so as to not smash his knees up against the underside of the table.

"Welcome!" the girl exclaimed. "I'm sure you know our school is very new," she started, handing him a small cup of tea. "We barely opened last year. All of the upperclassmen are second years, so someone with your build will likely – "

"I don't really care about that," Kagami interrupted. "I'll just sign my name on the paper and leave, thanks."

 _Why do I even bother expecting anything?_

After doing just that, he pushed away from the table, crushing the paper cup in his fist in agitation.

"But wait!" the girl said. "You don't have any goals to write down?"

He stood, rolling his eyes. "Not really," Kagami said. "After all, basketball is the same everywhere in Japan." For show, he tossed the squashed paper cup over his shoulder and into the waste basket next to the table without looking.

Briefly glancing over his shoulder, Kagami caught the eye of the clearly offended girl sitting at the table. _Seems like this school is a waste of time._

She looked surprised, and he continued walking away, just catching Koganei's wail of despair. "He's terrifying!"

Kagami smirked.

* * *

A few days later, Kagami found himself standing in the middle of Seirin's not-so-impressive gym, looking around at all the guys interested in the basketball team. It was a less-than-desirable turnout – only eight or nine guys.

"Alright, looks like all of the first years are here!" the girl from the booth declared. She turned to the upperclassman standing next to her – _Izuki,_ Kagami dimly recalled – and they exchanged a few words, gesturing to the group.

A couple of guys started whispering about her from the back. "That manager's pretty cute, yeah?" one said, smirking. His friend replied, but Kagami couldn't quite make out his words over the din of the other people in the group chattering.

The first one mumbled petulantly, "Too bad she isn't sexier, though." Kagami rolled his eyes. _Idiots._

Suddenly, the guy with glasses from the entrance ceremony appeared behind the two, smacking them each in the head with slight agitation. They groaned, voicing their discontent. Echoing Kagami, he barked, "Idiots – you're wrong."

Smirking, the girl stepped forward and introduced herself. "Hi, I'm the boys' basketball coach, Aida Riko. It's nice to meet you all."

A unanimous disbelieving gasp echoed around the gym, and then several guys began speaking at once.

 _Oh, hell,_ Kagami thought despondently, ignoring the whispering. _If this chick is the coach, then there really is no hope._

Suddenly, the coach yelled, "Take off your shirts!"

Kagami followed her instructions passively, but as he did so, he experienced the strange feeling that he was being watched, even though all the other guys in the lineup were groaning and stripping.

He watched her as she moved down the line, emasculating each and every freshman without remorse by telling them their weaknesses. Kagami listened with a slight bit of interest as the upperclassman with the glasses explained how her odd skill had developed from observing her father's work.

Then, she stopped in front of him, seemingly speechless.

"What?" he said irritably.

Still, she continued to stare. As he watched her watch him, beginning to feel mildly uncomfortable, a bit of drool slipped out of the corner of her mouth. Kagami winced internally, pitying her.

"Hey, Coach?" the guy with the glasses called eventually. "Why are you still looking? Didn't you see everyone?"

Riko flushed slightly and stepped back, brushing a quick hand over her chin. "S-sorry! So…"

"That guy was last," the boy answered.

Coach Riko looked confused and vaguely disappointed. "Really? Didn't anyone see Kuroko?"

As a short, frenzied conversation broke out about some middle school called "Teikou Junior High" that the fabled "Kuroko" had attended, Kagami shivered. He was feeling the odd sensation of being watched again.

"Could he be the phantom sixth player that no one ever saw?" someone proposed.

This instigated a brief bout of contemplative silence.

"I guess he's off today, then," the coach said to herself eventually. She then addressed the entire room. "Well then, let's start practice – "

She was cut off by a soft voice. "Excuse me…" Kagami's head turned so fast to his right that he almost got whiplash. Standing directly to his right was a short, blue-haired boy who Kagami was 95% sure had not been there for the past few minutes.

Kagami swallowed thickly, startled, and the boy finished. "I am Kuroko."

It was then Kagami realised that the strange feeling of being scrutinized had probably been because of this kid.

The upperclassmen all looked shocked. "When did you get here?" one asked.

Kuroko's facial expression didn't change in the slightest. "I have been here the whole time."

Kagami watched as the upperclassmen swooped down upon him like hawks, suspiciously questioning his skills and experience. "There's no way you were a regular. Right, Kuroko?" one of them asked doubtfully.

"Well, I have played in matches," he answered, to everyone's astonishment.

Kagami was confused as to what the "Generation of Miracles" was that everyone was talking about. They seemed to be held in such high regard, so naturally he was curious about it. _Although I doubt that they're really anything to get so excited about._

Of course, the coach wanted him to remove his shirt like everyone else (although Kuroko – and Kagami figured that he was the only one who had heard him – had mumbled that he'd done it along _with_ everyone else) had done. Kagami didn't have high expectations for the boy's tiny stature. His suspicions were proven correct when he found himself staring at a pale, hardly toned and thin figure.

 _Not athletic in the slightest,_ Kagami thought disappointedly. _His arms aren't bad, though. I can't really gauge his skill level._

He carefully watched the coach's face for her reaction, and – not that Kagami was the most observant, but – she looked even more perplexed.

As the coach walked away to start practice, Kagami looked back at Kuroko, only to find the much smaller boy already staring up at him with blank, baby-blue eyes.

 _What the hell is with this guy?_

Slightly unsettled, Kagami jerked backwards and turned to join the practice with the rest of the first years.

* * *

Later that evening, at Maji Burger, Kagami wondered about the Generation of Miracles. From what little that he had gathered, the Generation of Miracles seemed like a seriously epic group that Kuroko had been part of in middle school. However, Kuroko's appearance and lack of physical prowess during practice seemed to suggest otherwise. Suffice to say, Kagami was pretty baffled.

He scanned the small restaurant, and eventually, Kagami's eyes landed on an empty table next to the window. He set his duffle bag down and frowned, feeling a strange sensation on the back of his neck.

As he sat down with his tray at the small rectangular table and began eating, Kagami thought, _Well, I hope that they're as strong as everyone seems to think._

Something in Kagami's peripheral caught his attention, and he turned his head away from the window to look towards it.

He choked on a morsel of ground beef and clutched his chest when he found Kuroko, nonchalantly sipping on a shake and sitting in the chair opposite him at the table.

"Hello," Kuroko said, talking around the straw in his mouth and casually bookmarking his page in the book he was reading before carefully setting it down on the table. Kagami gaped as the boy continued speaking, eyeing Kagami's mountain of cheeseburgers. "I see that _you're_ still growing."

"W-what…when the fuck did you even get here?" Kagami stuttered once he got his breath back.

"Oh, I've been here the whole time – people-watching," the blue-eyed boy responded as if it were nothing important. He kept his azure gaze steadily on Kagami's, and the taller boy began feeling awkward.

 _How could this creep be one of the best basketball players in Japan?_

For a long while, the only sounds that could be heard from the table were Kagami's ferocious chewing of the many burgers once piled on his tray and Kuroko occasionally sipping his drink as he continued to unabashedly observe Kagami.

"A-anyways, why don't you take a walk with me?" Kagami asked eventually, on one of his last three burgers. "Once I finish eating, I mean."

Kuroko nodded blankly and wrapped his lips around the straw again.

* * *

Kagami took Kuroko to the nearest basketball court, stopping just in front of the net and slinging his duffle bag onto the ground. "You – what the hell are you hiding?"

Kuroko didn't answer, but he somehow managed to convey confusion without changing his facial expression even the slightest bit.

Kagami sighed and rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. Looking down, he grumbled, "I was in America until the second year of middle school. So I was pretty damn upset when I got back at how low the standards are here."

Kagami felt irritation course through his body as he stared into the blasé gaze of the boy before him, and suddenly, he found himself yelling. "I'm not looking to play basketball for _fun,_ " he spat heatedly. Kagami's fists clenched involuntarily, and he looked down at them, unseeing. "I want to play serious matches that - that make my blood boil with excitement!"

Kagami abruptly realised that he was looming over Kuroko, who still had yet to say anything, and that he was breathing ridiculously heavily, heart thumping almost painfully against his rib cage.

He paused a moment and stepped back, lips twitching into a smirk. "But I heard something interesting earlier. Apparently, there's a group of strong guys called the 'Generation of Miracles' in our age group." After a pause in which Kagami waited for a response that wouldn't come, he continued. "You were on that team, weren't you?"

Before Kuroko could respond, Kagami turned and grabbed a ball out of his duffle bag, tossing it to Kuroko, who only looked mildly startled as he barely managed to catch it.

"Thing is," Kagami said as Kuroko glanced down at the orange ball in his grasp. "That I can usually guess at the strength of an opponent. Stronger guys usually have a certain… _feel_ to them, you know?"

"You're weird, though. Just looking at you," Kagami said somewhat caustically. His eyes roved over Kuroko's form, clothed in the typical school uniform buttoned all the way up his neck. "I can see that you should feel really weak. But for some reason…I can't read you – at all. It's like… you don't even seem to have a presence."

Kuroko looked up, meeting Kagami's eyes again with a subtle knowing light.

"So show me. Show me the supposed strength of the Generation of Miracles," Kagami demanded of Kuroko.

The sound of a slider moving through hundreds of plastic teeth broke the silence – Kuroko was unzipping his jacket. "What a coincidence; I've been thinking about playing against you too," he finally said blandly. "One-on-one."

Kagami felt a fire burst to life in his chest at the admission, and he couldn't stop the crooked smile that spread across his face.

However, from the very first shot he took and as the minutes dragged by, one thing became abundantly clear to Kagami.

 _Wait – this guy is...desperately weak!_

Kagami was even more perplexed than he had been before. He stopped running and simply watched Kuroko chase a ball off of the court, suddenly wondering what the hell was going on.

 _Even with such a small body as his, it's possible to become a great player through skill and not size. But this kid doesn't even seem to have mastered the basics!_

 _He has absolutely no good qualities – there's no point in continuing this match._

"Were you even listening to me?" Kagami roared abruptly, stopping Kuroko in his tracks. "You were _way_ overestimating your abilities if you thought you could beat me. And after you sort of impressed me with that challenge, too!"

Kuroko tilted his head, confused. "Kagami-kun, do you think I'm an idiot?"

 _Yes._

"Obviously, you're stronger than me. I knew that before we started," Kuroko said very matter-of-factly.

Immediately pissed off, Kagami grabbed Kuroko by his collar and pulled him up to eye level. "What the hell were you doing, then? You wanna die?" he snarled, spittle flying onto Kuroko's pale cheeks.

"I just wanted to see for myself how good you were," Kuroko replied calmly. Kagami immediately dropped him back onto the concrete.

 _What?_

"What?" Kagami asked.

 _This was pointless,_ Kagami thought as Kuroko tossed the ball between his hands uncertainly. _I must be insane. Obviously, he has no presence because he's just that weak._

"Forget it," he grumbled aloud. "I have no interest in playing against weak players."

Kagami turned back towards his duffle bag and picked it up, slinging it and his jacket over his shoulder. "I'll tell you one more thing, though," he said, disappointment clouding his mind and saturating his tone. _If this is the strength of the Generation of Miracles, then what's the point?_

"You should quit playing basketball." He waited for the expected indignation, anger, _something_ , but no reaction was forthcoming from that blank face.

"You can say all the shit you want about 'your best effort', but the fact of the matter is that you need some basic _talent_ to really get anywhere. And you have absolutely _no talent_ for basketball," Kagami said very candidly.

With that, he turned around and began to leave the court, only to be stopped by Kuroko's next words. "Sorry, but I can't agree with that."

"What?" Kagami replied, turning to look over his shoulder. _That passive mushroom just said 'no' to me?_

"Firstly, I love basketball," Kuroko said in that point-blank tone that really pissed Kagami off. "Secondly, it's a matter of opinion."

Kagami fully turned around to glower at Kuroko, who was focused on packing up his own bag. He started to open his mouth to argue, but Kuroko cut him off.

"I don't care about strength or weakness," Kuroko continued, staring right up into Kagami's irritated eyes quite plainly.

"What did you just say?" Kagami growled, taking offense to his words.

Kuroko stepped closer, angling his head back to keep his penetrating gaze on Kagami's face. "I'm very different from you, Kagami-kun. I am a shadow."

Kagami could not stop his eyebrows from shooting upwards at this, and he reached up to run a hand through his hair, completely confused once again. He tilted his head up to the sky and closed his eyes for a few moments as if doing that would give him all the answers.

"Kuroko – " he started, turning his head back down.

But his basketball was sitting on the ground, Kuroko's things were gone, and the boy himself was nowhere to be found.

* * *

The next day, at practice, it rained heavily outside.

Kagami watched the coach and the team captain discuss what they could do, and eventually, they scrapped the outdoor cooldown for a scrimmage.

Hearing the other freshmen behind him discuss their unease at playing their upperclassmen who had made it into the finals in their first year of being a team, Kagami scoffed aloud. "Don't be afraid. It's better to play stronger opponents than _weaker_ ones anyways."

The statement wasn't supposed to be a jab at Kuroko, but for some reason, Kagami felt like it was. "Let's go, guys!" he tacked on belatedly, trying to be encouraging.

The murmur of assent from his classmates wasn't exactly _reassuring._

Almost right off the bat, Kagami made a dunk. His teammates erupted into cheers – all except Kuroko, that is.

 _Not that I give a shit._

As the game continued, Kagami continued to score all the points, much to the frustration of the second-years. Kagami also found _himself_ growing irritated at the fact that he was the only one doing any work.

 _Shit, this is seriously pissing me off! And I'm still on edge from what that kid said yesterday._

As if it were timed perfectly to raise Kagami's ire, the ball was suddenly stolen from Kuroko. _For what seems like the thousandth time,_ Kagami thought furiously. _I can't fucking stand weak people!_

"Keep it together!" shouted one of their teammates.

 _For all the big talk yesterday, he can't play for shit. Guys who talk big and then can't follow up_ really _piss me off!_

As he thought this, Kagami jumped to defend a dunk and pushed it away at the last second, much to the awe of the other players on the court.

"Nothing can stop him now!" Kagami barely registered what the guy said as he landed on the ground and wiped sweat from his forehead.

However, immediately after the play, the upperclassmen upped the pressure. Kagami found himself surrounded by three guards every time the ball was passed to him. Even when he was just moving around in no-man's-land, Kagami was closely followed by two defenders. _Shit_ , he thought.

Lo and behold, within minutes, the second-years went from losing by three points to winning by sixteen. And Kagami was about ready to punch someone in exasperation. His teammates were already giving up, sighing and leaning on their knees.

"Enough already," one of the freshmen on Kagami's team groaned laboriously, squeezing his eyes shut tight and dripping buckets of sweat onto the gym floor.

Kagami was wound _just_ tightly enough by the tense situation that he abruptly grabbed the unfortunate boy by the numbered yellow jersey he was wearing over his t-shirt and wrenched him forward and up.

" _Enough?_ " he growled into the poor guy's face. "What the hell are you going on about? Are you giving up?"

Kagami only had the brief warning of the guy's eyes widening before the back of his leg was suddenly viciously slammed into from behind, causing his right knee to buckle violently. He reflexively dropped the kid, who scrambled away in stark terror.

"Please calm down," a quiet voice implored, as if being polite would make Kagami forget the fact that he had just been _kneed in the back of the leg_.

Kagami slowly turned his head around to face his assailant, and of course, it was the one guy on the court that he _absolutely could not tolerate._

"Kuroko, you _bastard!_ " Kagami roared wrathfully. "Do you want to die, asshole?! Because that sure as _hell_ can be arranged!"

His classmates were attempting frantically to calm his rage, but Kagami was seeing red. He actually swiped twice at Kuroko's face, fists clenched, but Kuroko just ducked out of the way.

"Please don't kill me, Kagami-kun," Kuroko pleaded emotionlessly, but Kagami was having none of it.

He grabbed Kuroko by the front of his shirt in much the same way he had done to the other kid, and yanked him around like a ragdoll as he yelled. "You've been pissing me off nonstop since yesterday! If we weren't on the same goddamn team, I would _rip your fucking face off!_ "

The coach eventually came over, blowing the whistle with slightly pinked cheeks. "Alright, guys; break it up already. Kagami, cool it down."

Kagami scowled into the serene sapphire eyes of the boy he was nearly strangling, and suddenly, he felt oddly like a little kid throwing a tantrum. Kagami gently set Kuroko down, face somewhat flushed, and said nothing as he was led off of the court to relax for a couple of moments.

The ball was handed back over to the first-years, and Kagami unexpectedly heard Kuroko say, "Excuse me? Could you please just pass me the ball?" to another player.

The guy looked pretty confused, but he made the pass anyways.

 _Is he a fucking idiot? There is no way that kid will achieve anything._

Kagami stared, disbelieving, but before he could really react, one of his teammates was already receiving the ball and making an easy layup into the basket.

Kagami quickly stood back up, eager. "Can I go back in, Coach? Thanks!" he said without waiting for an answer. He re-entered the court, knowing that the coach was too dumbfounded to answer.

The tables had turned. Kagami couldn't quite figure it out, but passes were suddenly connecting all over the court. And when he rejoined the court, the freshmen were easily taking most of the points. As the game pushed on, Kagami realised that _Kuroko_ was the main link in all of the combination passes. Everyone was scoring points. But for the life of him, he couldn't figure out how Kuroko was doing it. _It's like his presence is so little that no one even notices he's there until it's too late…_

Kagami's eyes widened as hope flickered to life once again deep in his chest. _This is Kuroko's style of basketball?_

Suddenly, the ball smacked into his hands. The basket was wide open, so he made a layup, his mind suddenly focused and understanding.

 _We're only one point behind -_

Kuroko was passed the ball, but there was no one in the vicinity for him to pass to. "Go!" someone shouted. "Win!"

Kuroko dribbled down the court, the upperclassmen nowhere near him. Kagami ran down the court with him, somehow eager. To his dismay, Kuroko missed the shot horribly, bouncing it off the rim. Thankfully, Kagami was already there, saving Kuroko's awful shot with a dunk.

"This is why I hate weak people!" Kagami huffed as he landed on the ground again, bent over and feeling pleasantly warm tingles in his legs. However, he couldn't seem to find that all-consuming anger he'd been overwhelmed with just a few minutes ago. "At least make the shot, you idiot."

He looked up at Kuroko, and as per the usual, Kuroko was already staring right back at him – and with the _barest hint_ of the mere _suggestion_ of a smile, too.

Oddly enough, the sweet warm sensation spread to Kagami's chest in response, so he promptly spun around and walked off to get water, trying to fight down a smile himself.

* * *

The same day, Kagami went to Maji Burger again for his dinner, this time ordering an even taller pile of burgers.

 _I guess Kuroko…isn't exactly as weak as I first thought. We_ did _work really well together against the upperclassmen today_ , he mused idly as he sunk his teeth into the first burger and stared out the window into the poorly-lit sidewalk.

An odd noise from his left caught Kagami's attention, and he turned to look in that direction, only to find Kuroko sitting across the table from him once again, blatantly staring at him as he quietly sucked on his straw. "Hello," he said.

Kagami flinched backwards and his food caught uncomfortably in his throat. "Where'd you come from?" Kagami demanded once all of his food was swallowed properly. "And what are you doing sitting here again?"

 _Fucking kid, sneaking up on me like that!_

"I was already here," Kuroko said in that quiet tone of his. "You are the one who came and sat at my table. Plus, I really like the vanilla shake here."

Kagami dragged a hand over his face exasperatedly. "Go sit somewhere else."

"No."

 _He's suicidal. Just look at him. He_ wants _me to kill him._

Kagami restrained himself – just barely – from reaching forward and simply strangling the damn brat. "Don't just assume we're friends now – "

"I wasn't," Kuroko cut him off, eyes sliding down to the overflowing tray of food before darting back up to meet Kagami's exasperated ones. "I was sitting here first, remember?"

Kagami scowled silently at Kuroko, finding himself at a loss for words for some reason. After a long period in which the two teenagers stared at one another in silence, Kagami sighed grudgingly, shrugging. "Here," he mumbled, tossing the quiet boy one of his many cheeseburgers. "You can have one."

If such an expression was even possible on his emotionless face, Kuroko looked somewhat baffled.

"I'm not interested in weak guys," Kagami repeated his words from yesterday. "But," he looked down at all the food on his tray. "I'll acknowledge that you're worth one piece of all that."

After a beat, Kuroko replied quietly, "Um…thank you."

The odd pair ate in relative silence for a while, the only audible noises being Kagami's chewing and Kuroko's occasional nibbles and contented sips.

About fifteen or so minutes later, the two were leaving the restaurant together.

"How strong is the Generation of Miracles?" Kagami asked as they reached the slightly wet sidewalk. Kuroko looked up at him blankly, and Kagami clarified, smirking. "Like…if I played against them right now, what do you think would happen?"

Kuroko looked down at the cup which held the remnants of his vanilla shake, hesitating for a few moments. "You would be instantly killed," he eventually said.

Kagami reflexively flinched, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk. "Couldn't you say that in a nicer way?"

Kuroko continued walking past for a moment, but suddenly he paused. "Not really. The five Miracles all have overwhelming talents in different areas. They have also each joined different veteran schools this year. Naturally, one of those schools will definitely be at the top."

Kagami smirked, and then he started laughing boisterously, causing Kuroko to turn and face him unsurely.

"All the better, then!" Kagami exclaimed. "I'm _burning_ now!"

He looked down at Kuroko, who showed no change in expression in response to Kagami's passion. "I've decided," Kagami said resolutely. "I _will_ take all of those guys down, and I _will_ become the number one player in Japan."

Kuroko said nothing for a while. He just stood there, perceptive blue eyes seeming to search for something in Kagami's gaze. Eventually, he took one last sip of his shake. "I think that's impossible."

 _What?_

"What?" Kagami demanded, offended – and kind of wounded, if he was being totally honest.

"I don't know your full potential, but at your current level, you couldn't hold a candle to any of them," Kuroko said.

Kagami frowned, but didn't say anything, sensing that Kuroko still had more to say.

"What I mean is that it's impossible for _you_ , alone. I have decided something as well," Kuroko admitted, eyes on the concrete. "I obviously realise that I am nothing more than a supporting character… a shadow."

"However, if the light is stronger, a shadow does become darker. And the darkness of the shadow will help the light become stronger." Kagami's frown grew slightly confused, interested to know where Kuroko was going with this odd speech.

"As the shadow of the main character, I will make you, my light, the best in Japan," Kuroko finally finished, his eyes suddenly very sharp as the wind tossed his bangs and the bright, artificial light of a passing car lit up his boyish features.

Kagami's heart stuttered, and his breath caught at the stanch determination he saw in that gaze. Then he laughed shortly, still a bit thrown off his game by the bold claim the normally soft-spoken boy had made. "Nice words there. You gonna follow up this time, though?"

Kuroko smiled again, that barely-there, once-in-a-lifetime curve of his lips. "I will do my best."

* * *

 **A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this. Kagami is far easier to write than Ciel or Light, so...I enjoyed it, haha. Here's the deal with Absum; it's a lot lighter than most of the other stories I'll write. In addition, Kuroko may seem a bit...different from the canon Kuroko. Anyways, the second chapter is already on the shelf for whenever I feel the need to post (don't worry, I won't keep you waiting for _too_ long). Thanks for reading!**


	2. I Am Serious

**A/N: Hello again, lovelies. So, the thing with this fic is that it's pretty straight-up aligned with the original story. I'm trying to insert some _very_ subtle hints in the characters to imply things that will be revealed later, but for the next few chapters, things will be moving fairly slowly. I did, however, place a bit of background info towards the end of this chap. I hope you enjoy it... :) Chapter 3 is in the process of being written.**

 **Disclaimer: Tadatoshi Fujimaki is pretty frickin' awesome. He owns the original story, he owns the original characters, he owns the original plot, etc., etc. I am just a lowly writer borrowing his epicness, and I own nothing but my own interpretations of the characters' interactions and my slight changes of those interactions.**

 **WC: 5200**

* * *

2\. I Am Serious

The hot sun beat down on Kagami's bare arms as he dribbled back up to the half-line. He was practicing his shots as usual, but this time he found his thoughts unfailingly drifting back to a certain topic.

 _Just how strong is the Generation of Miracles?_

As he recalled his conversation with Kuroko from a few days ago, he took a jump shot from the three-point line.

 _Instantly killed, huh?_

To his pleasure, the shot went smoothly in with that satisfying _swish_ sound to to p it off.

Heat flooded his chest as he remembered the words Kuroko had said so earnestly: _"I will make you, my light, the best in Japan."_

Dribbling down the sideline, Kagami laughed aloud, the harsh sound ruthlessly piercing the tranquil stillness of the early afternoon.

 _Damn, I'm so excited for this season that I can't sit still…I don't even care if it's an official match – I just want to play them,_ he thought animatedly, a huge grin on his face.

* * *

On Friday morning, Kagami happened to run into the captain in the hallway. Immediately after a quick greeting, he asked, "When do we play our first game?"

"A game?" the captain echoed, raising an eyebrow. "You can't play in a game yet."

 _What?_

"W-what?" Kagami shouted, floored. "And why the hell – I mean why? I'm not good enough?" As was customary for Kagami, his mood automatically shot from neutral to furious.

"No, that's not it. Calm down," the captain admonished him. Kagami relaxed slightly. "You and all of the other freshmen are still trial members. You aren't officially on the team yet."

"What?" Kagami repeated stupidly.

The captain rolled his eyes. "Just go talk to Coach and fill out the membership form. She's in 2-C right now." He paused for a moment. "You'd better go before first bell."

Kagami dashed off as quickly as possible, searching frantically for room 2-C. When he arrived, Coach was sipping from a carton of milk and staring off into space with a dreamy expression on her face as a PSP dangled from her fingertips.

"Coach!" Kagami shouted, slamming his hands onto her desk. Coach started out of her stupor and promptly spat milk all over her desk. A few students looked over, and she flushed slightly. Kagami ignored the annoyed look she threw him as she wiped her mouth with her sleeve. "Coach, please make me a real member!"

"You too? Jeez, what is it with you freshmen today?" she moaned, grabbing a small hand towel from her lunchbox to wipe down the table.

"Too?" Kagami parroted. _I really need to stop doing that._

"Yeah, Kuroko was here earlier, asking about the same thing," she clarified, rolling her eyes in a similar way to the captain.

"That bastard…" Kagami mumbled to himself, but it had no real acidity to it. _Beating me here? He's getting on my last nerve._

Coach rummaged around in her backpack as she continued, as if Kagami hadn't said anything. "You're an impatient bunch, aren't you?" she laughed somewhat derisively. "Well, you have a lot of potential, and we have a lot of space on the bench. So be my guest." She handed him an official club membership form, and he smirked.

 _Hell yes!_

"So I can play in games once I turn this in, right?" he asked rhetorically, already turning towards the door to leave.

"Wait, wait. Hold on," Coach drawled. Kagami turned, making a small noise in the back of his throat. "I'll only take your form back on Monday, at 8:40, on the rooftop."

Kagami's brows furrowed in confusion, but he nodded anyways, leaving the classroom so as to make it to his first period on time. As he strode down the hall, paper in hand, some sort of poster pinned to a bulletin board caught his attention. His stride slowed to a stop, and he turned to his right to look at it more closely.

It was a newspaper article, featuring a large close-up of the captain doing an underhand layup with a green-shirted defender on his ass.

"Guess he wasn't joking," Kagami mumbled to himself, noting that the title of the clipping said something about the team qualifying for the Kanto tournament. "Maybe this team actually _is_ pretty good."

A strange chill ran up Kagami's spine.

"Yes, they are quite strong."

Kagami's head whipped to the side again (to see who else but _Kuroko_ ), and he stared for just a moment, speechless. When he found his voice, he let out a shocked squawk of surprise. "You fucking _bastard!_ " he shouted. "Can you be more like a normal goddamn person and stop appearing out of _nowhere?!_ " After his outburst, Kagami was breathing quite heavily, impatiently waiting for Kuroko to respond.

Much to his chagrin, the smaller boy simply lifted a finger and pushed it against his own lips. "Shh." Kuroko gestured to the sign just a few feet above his head. _Library,_ it read.

A heat - completely different from the flushed warmth Kagami had experienced from their last conversation – rapidly swelled in his chest like a balloon fit to burst. He slammed his hand down over Kuroko's head and dragged him forward by the light-blue hairs – _which are actually surprisingly soft –_ so that he could more effectively tear into that _infernally_ blank face.

Kagami snarled, "Are you making fun of me? You're making fun of me, aren't you?" When Kuroko didn't answer, Kagami hissed. " _Answer me._ "

"I am not," he said simply, plainly. Kuroko showed no indication that he was in pain from Kagami's grasp, but the larger boy let him go anyways, dragging a hand over his own face. Kuroko's brows furrowed slightly as he absentmindedly rubbed the back of his head.

 _It's incredibly hard to believe,_ Kagami thought as he rolled his eyes. _That this annoying kid who is usually so invisible was actually the 'phantom sixth member' of the Generation of Miracles._ His eyes raked over Kuroko's petite frame, and he could not imagine the tiny boy playing on such a highly regarded team. _Even if Kuroko is that sixth player, why would he bother coming here? If all of his teammates went to strong veteran schools, why would he come to Seirin instead?_

Kagami closed his eyes briefly, tamping down any residual anger. "Hey, Kuroko – "

Of – _fucking_ – course, Kuroko had already vanished.

Kagami stood there for a few more moments alone, dumbfounded, before the bell rang and he was forced to run to first period.

* * *

The weekend passed in a short bout of lazing about, which consisted primarily of Kagami stuffing his face and watching basketball matches sprawled out on his couch.

* * *

Honestly, by the time Monday had rolled around, Kagami had forgotten about the meeting on the rooftop. But he had run into another freshman teammate in the hallway, and after a brief reminder, they'd sprinted up the steps together to the roof.

When Kagami and the other guy ( _Fumiko? Fujita?_ ) arrived on the roof, everyone else was already there.

Kagami could not help the utter perplexity that washed over him when he noticed Coach.

Coach stood there, her short skirt trailing away in the wind, her arms crossed, and her face pulled up into a challenging smirk. Coach chuckled darkly when Kagami slid to a stop at the front of the group. "I was waiting for you!"

Kagami found himself unable to form a full sentence. "Wha...?"

"Is this a duel?" Kuroko asked almost silently, eliciting a rumble of laughter that passed through the small group.

Coach looked annoyed and somewhat chastised by the mockery, but she adjusted her stance to a more normal position anyways.

"Okay..." Kagami hedged when Coach had no further comment. "To be honest, I forgot we had to meet here." Another derogatory chuckle rose from the group.

He awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "But why _Monday_? The beginning of the morning assembly is in _five_ _minutes_! Hurry up and take my form before we're late!" He thrust his hand out, the filled-out form grasped tightly in his fist, and waved it in front of her face.

"Yeah, let's hurry up and get this over with!" another random guy yelled from the back of the group.

Coach smiled indulgently. "But first, there's something I have to say."

"Last year, I made a promise to the captain when he asked me to be the coach for this team." She smiled encouragingly. "I will bring this team to Nationals! And if you aren't ready for that, then this is your chance to leave."

Kagami was confused, to say the least. _Where could she possibly be going with this?_

 _"_ I _know_ that you guys are great players. But I want to expose something more important than skill. I want you all to have a _concrete_ objective and the will to achieve that goal no matter what. That's why right now, you will shout your name, your class number and your goal for the year!" Coach shouted excitedly as she made a grand gesture towards the crowd of students waiting in lines several stories below.

Before anyone could express their opinion in either direction, Coach plowed forward. "For the record, all of this year's second years, including me, did the same thing last year." She suddenly adopted a mischievous air. "Oh, and I almost forgot. If you don't achieve your goal, I _will_ force you to strip naked and confess your feelings to your crush. Make no mistake of that."

The majority of the freshmen groaned in horror. They whispered to each other about how they had heard rumors but never truly believed. Kuroko remained silent – not that Kagami was paying close attention or anything – except for a quiet laugh. For some inexplicable reason, that made Kagami ridiculously determined to be first in line to announce his goals.

"Is that all?" he scoffed, rolling his eyes. "It's hardly even a test."

The other guys gasped as Kagami bravely strode past Coach and leapt up onto the railing. Even Coach flinched in surprise when he landed neatly on the narrow bar without even the slightest bit of a wobble. Kagami planted his feet and inhaled deeply.

"Class 1-B, Kagami Taiga!" he bellowed, voice reverberating all over the field. Students muttered and pointed up in surprise, but he plowed on. "I will defeat the Generation of Miracles and become the best basketball player in all of Japan!"

Feeling empowered by his announcement, Kagami hopped down from the metal bar and sauntered back over to his classmates. To his enjoyment, the other freshmen were cowed, seemingly afraid to try and measure up to his declaration. Kuroko, however, displayed nothing resembling either admiration or trepidation on the blank slate of his face.

After a pause, one of the other guys, the one with exceptionally short hair, stepped up to the plate. However, he ended up going on a long tirade that was essentially a biography of his involvement in basketball. Coach ruthlessly kicked him away from the edge.

"Next!"

The next guy had only joined because he thought he would be helping out an upperclassman in need, and the last one ( _ah, Furihata was his name_ ) had joined to win the affections of some girl.

Kagami heroically resisted the urge to launch all of them over the edge.

"Excuse me?" Kuroko suddenly piped up from Coach's left side. Kagami started slightly; he had forgotten that Kuroko was on the roof with the rest of them. "Sorry, Coach, but…I'm not good at shouting, so is it okay if I use this?" He held up a megaphone to his mouth.

"S-sure," Coach stammered, clearly still a bit shocked.

Despite himself, Kagami noticed that he was leaning forward in curiosity to hear what Kuroko would say as he approached the railing. The small, blue-haired boy flicked the _on_ button on the megaphone and inhaled quietly – everyone in the vicinity seemed to have gone quiet, so his breath sounded around the area like a crack of thunder –

"Hey!" The door to the roof suddenly busted open, revealing the school principal. "The basketball team _again_?" He then proceeded to berate the team for acting like children, and Kagami quickly tuned out.

 _I really was interested to hear what Kuroko would have said his true goal was for the team,_ he thought off-handedly. But, as usual, looking over at Kuroko's blank face unearthed no new information.

* * *

That evening, at Maji Burger, Kagami was still seething over the morning's fiasco.

"I can't believe the principal got so pissed over a little shouting," he mumbled to himself as he unwrapped the first burger.

As he bit into it, a familiar voice spoke. "Yes, and I was scolded for hardly doing anything."

Kagami's gaze shot up, and he almost choked _again_ when his eyes met Kuroko's expressionless stare. "You again?" he groaned, frustrated that his dinner had been ruined. "Maybe I should start going to a different restaurant after school…"

"It's become a serious problem," Kuroko continued vacantly. He paused to sip from his shake, and Kagami tapped his fingers on the table in irritation. "I am unable to complete the test because we have been banned from the roof. What if they don't let me onto the team?"

Kagami laughed slightly. "Are you an idiot? There's no way that'll happen."

The blue-haired boy shrugged noncommittally. "I guess we'll see."

A lull in the conversation allowed Kuroko to take another drink from the straw. A pleased hum escaped his throat, and Kagami suddenly remembered what he had wanted to ask the previous week (when Kuroko had left him standing alone in the hallway like an idiot).

"Hey, I have a question." Kagami leaned his forearm on the table, effectively capturing Kuroko's complete attention. "You were…considered good enough to be named the 'phantom sixth player' of the Generation of Miracles. So…if everyone else went to renowned veteran schools, then why didn't you, you know, follow suit?"

Kuroko's eyes slipped slightly towards the window, and Kagami tried to wait patiently for an answer. After a few moments, though, he couldn't help himself. "Do you…have a reason for playing basketball?"

Kuroko set his drink down and fully focused on Kagami, who leaned closer still to catch every word of what was about to be revealed.

"My middle school was very strong in basketball," the smaller boy started hesitantly.

 _I fucking know that by now!_ Kagami thought to himself. However, he didn't voice his agitation, worried that it might push Kuroko out of the talkative mood he seemed to be easing into.

"But…there was really and truly one main rule there: Winning is everything." Kuroko's voice turned dark, and Kagami felt chills crawl down his spine. "It wasn't about teamwork. It was all about supporting the individual talents of the Generation of Miracles in order to win. We were unbeatable, but…it wasn't a team."

"The other five on the team were content with this dynamic, but I really felt like something was lacking," he continued after a pensive pause.

Kagami shamelessly interrupted. "So, what is it you're trying to achieve? Are you going to beat the Generation of Miracles with your own skills?" Even as he said it, he had to suppress laughter at the mere thought of it.

"To be honest, I really did believe that, at first," Kuroko admitted, no remorse visible in his perfect poker face.

 _Wait, seriously?_

"Seriously?" Kagami automatically echoed his own thoughts.

"But then," Kuroko went on. "I was really moved by yours and Coach's words." Kagami's heart stuttered at that revelation. "Now, my primary goal is trying to make you – and our team – the best in Japan."

Seeing the hint of determination in Kuroko's eyes, Kagami felt compelled to stand. "We're not going to _try_ , right, Kuroko? We _will be_ the best in Japan."

Kuroko looked up at him, and Kagami thought he might have seen a bit of reverence in his gaze. A small smile cracked Kuroko's placid mask, and Kagami couldn't prevent the involuntary answering smile.

Kagami doggy-bagged all of his uneaten burgers except for one, opting instead to toss the last one to Kuroko. "Come on, Kuroko. I'll walk you home."

* * *

The next morning, Kagami tiredly stumbled into his first class, only to see the vast majority of students clamoring to catch a glimpse of something through the tall windows.

"Wow, who did that?"

"Who's it for, though?"

"Can that be considered vandalism?"

 _What's all the commotion about?_ Kagami thought to himself, striding up behind the crowd of students pushed against the windows. Towering over the greater majority of the students, he easily looked over their heads, and what he saw forced a huge, shit-eating grin onto his face.

On the schoolyard, painted in colossal white characters, there was a message reading: _I will make you the best in Japan._

Kagami instinctively turned his head towards Kuroko, who was the only student in the room sitting quietly at his desk. Kuroko rubbed his nose absently and turned a page in his book, and Kagami shook his head in pure, unadulterated amazement before returning to his own seat.

* * *

In the locker room before practice, one of the upperclassmen found an old magazine lying underneath one of the benches.

"Oh, this is an issue from when Kuroko still attended Teikou," he exclaimed, garnering the attention of his teammates. Most of the guys crowded close to look as he and the Captain flipped through the glossy pages. Kagami turned, mildly interested. His eyes darted toward Kuroko, who seemed unaffected.

"Great, all of the members of the Generation of Miracles were featured," Captain proclaimed, looking excited. He quickly reached the end of the issue, though, and it was apparent that there was no story about Kuroko. "But…Kuroko doesn't have an article."

Kagami looked again towards the quiet boy, who had just tugged a plain white t-shirt over his head nonchalantly. "Didn't they come and interview you?" the upperclassman – Kagami was truly awful with names – asked, perplexed.

"They did, but then they forgot about me," Kuroko stated plainly, shutting his locker as he said it. _Ouch,_ Kagami thought to himself as he shut his own locker. "Anyways, I'm nothing like the others. They're real prodigies – "

"Hey!" Kagami started away from the door in alarm as the short-haired freshman barreled through it without warning. His eyebrow twitched in irritation – _I had wanted to hear where he was going with that…_

"The coach is back!" he exclaimed exuberantly. "And she's found us a team to scrimmage against."

The captain perked up immediately. "Who are we playing? Did she say?"

"Um…no, I don't know," the guy mumbled somewhat nervously. "She did say that she was skipping part of practice, though…"

Captain's eager expression abruptly transformed into one of abject horror. "Brace yourselves, guys. If that woman is skipping practice, then our opponent must be truly formidable."

Kagami smiled.

* * *

Without Coach's guidance, the freshmen and upperclassmen ended up scrimmaging again at practice. The match was heavily in the first-years' favor with Kagami being so hyped up about the practice match.

Kuroko appeared, seemingly from nowhere, and smoothly passed the ball directly into Kagami's waiting hands. One of the upperclassmen – _the sharp-eyed one…Izuki?_ – suddenly bore down upon him, but Kagami easily blasted past him. However, Izuki was not one to give up so easily. He continued to tightly defend Kagami, but he wasn't nearly fast enough for the sudden one-eighty that Kagami abruptly did. He jumped for the shot and grinned when it _swooshed_ neatly in.

Cheers of awe and veneration broke out around the gym. Talk began about how Kagami's skills might be enough to defeat the Generation of Miracles. Kagami absorbed the praise, but he tried not to let it go to his head, lest he find himself with a huge ego and not enough talent to back it up. He had kept in mind what Kuroko had said. " _You would be instantly killed."_

Even as he looked over at Kuroko now, the usually stoic boy seemed vaguely surprised, with a major helping of doubtful. Kagami was tempted to go ask him what he was thinking, but Coach was suddenly trying to get everyone's attention, apparently just having walked in.

The team walked over, and Kagami tucked the basketball under his armpit, joining them.

"Alright, guys! The team I got you a practice match against is…" She paused, probably for dramatic effect. "Kaijou High!"

 _Should I know who that is?_

All of the upperclassmen instantly looked terrified. "You got us a match with _the_ Kaijou High School?" Captain exclaimed.

"Yup!" Coach grinned eagerly. "We'll be using plenty of first years to get you guys warmed up for a real game, and Kaijou won't be a bad opponent to play against."

"Not _bad_?" Koganei ( _ah, that's it_ ) repeated, voice cracking slightly. "They'll tear us apart!"

 _Apparently, this team is something to be worried about. Nationally ranked? Sounds like my type of game._

"Not to mention that this year, Kaijou managed to get their hands on a member of the Generation of Miracles, Ryouta Kise."

 _What?_ Kagami started and recalled at the very last second that he was carrying a ball. He barely managed to stop it from hitting the ground, catching it with both hands.

Initially, Kagami was shocked. Once he got over the surprise, though, he was very pleased.

 _I never thought I'd be able to face one of them so soon, but…all the better. I can feel my heart racing already!_

"Remember the magazine?" Captain said. "The interview said that Kise works as a model, too…"

 _A model?_ Kagami thought. _Sounds like exactly the type of guy I would hate being around._

Kagami suddenly noticed that a quiet murmur had started up in the gym, and it was increasing in volume as seconds passed. Looking around, it became obvious to Kagami that almost every girl who attended Seirin was attempting to crowd into the gym simultaneously.

In the back, on top of the stage, towering above all of the adoring fans with his significant height, was a slim blonde who was, evidently, Kise. "This really isn't what I came here for, but I'm always happy to please the fans," Kise laughed amiably as he signed a picture of himself.

To Kagami's left, Kuroko made a small sound of interest. When Kagami turned towards him, Kuroko's gaze was already fixated on Kise. "Hello, Kise. It has been a while," Kuroko said clearly, dipping his head slightly in respect.

When he caught sight of Kuroko, Kise's entire face lit up with a heartbreaking smile that Kagami instantly disliked. "It's great to see you!" he replied, waving with a pen in his hand. When another girl shoved her journal at him for signing, he exhaled loudly, uncomfortably rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm really sorry about this, guys…could you give me five minutes?"

Kagami turned back towards Kuroko again, wanting to ask him a question, but Kuroko seemed intent on systematically analyzing Kise's every movement. A small smile was visible on his face, and _was that a hint of nostalgia I just saw?_

When he factored in the utterly _jubilant_ expression that had overcome Kise's face when he noticed Kuroko, Kagami was left wondering exactly what type of relationship Kise and Kuroko had left behind in junior high school.

"Wha…why are you here?" Captain asked immediately as Kise hopped down from the stage. He landed perfectly on the gym floor and smiled, walking towards the team with a sort of a confident swagger that made Kagami hate him even more.

Kise's perfectly straight blonde hair seemed to glint in the bright lights of the gymnasium. Kise's smile was dazzling, his golden-brown eyes were stunning, and his build was _just_ the ideal intersection between lean and muscled. In short, he was a perfect specimen, so Kagami detested him on sight.

"Well, when I heard that Seirin was going to be our first opponent, I remembered that this was the school that Kurokocchi had gone off to. I just _had_ to say hi!" he replied exuberantly. Kise leaned down towards Kuroko, and his face softened into something… _sweeter._ "Because we were so close in middle school – right, Kuroko?"

Despite getting the odd feeling that he was intruding on something very private, Kagami waited tensely for Kuroko's answer. "I guess," Kuroko answered nonchalantly.

Kise's face crumpled dramatically. "Oh, you wound me, Kurokocchi!"

Izuki suddenly piped up, reading from the article in the magazine they had found earlier. "Wow, he's incredible! Check out what they said about him…"

Kagami tuned out as everyone _ooh_ ed and _ahh_ ed at Kise's seemingly near-magical talents, instead opting to watch the quiet interaction between Kise and Kuroko. While everyone's focus was elsewhere, Kise lifted a hand to Kuroko's face and stroked his thumb carefully over the other boy's cheekbone.

"Really, you did miss me, didn't you, Kurokocchi?" he asked almost insecurely. To Kagami's disbelief, a faint shade of rose darkened Kuroko's cheeks as he reached up and brushed away Kise's wandering fingers. However, he didn't immediately let go of Kise's hand.

"We can…talk about that later," Kuroko said in response, before _finally_ dropping Kise's hand and taking a few steps backwards. "Not here. Not now." Kise nodded, biting his lip and backing up as well.

For some absolutely _unfathomable_ reason, the more-than-friendly contact between Kuroko and his ex-teammate set Kagami's heart ablaze with fury, and his vice grip on the ball in his hands tightened even more. He opened his mouth to say something, but the flow of the conversation had already moved towards Kise again.

"Well, I'm glad I was included as one of the Generation of Miracles, but…really, I was the weakest of the bunch," he admitted awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck again. Kise glanced towards Kuroko again. "That's why we were picked on so often, right?"

Kuroko blinked slowly up at Kise, any residual blush from earlier completely banished by sheer willpower, no doubt. "No, I wasn't picked on at all."

"What? It was only me?" Kise cried. "How cruel…"

The level of Kagami's patience had definitely been breached. He ruthlessly launched the ball he had been tightly grasping for the past ten minutes at Kise's face. Kise apparently had quick reflexes, as he reached up and caught it at the last second.

"Ouch, what was that for?" he complained, dropping the ball suddenly. Kagami wasn't surprised that the pass had stung; he had thrown it with all the force he could muster. Several of his teammates shouted his name, clearly disapproving, but Kagami was only focused on Kise.

"Sorry to break up your lovely little reunion, but there's no way you just came here to greet us," Kagami spat, heat surging in his veins. "So why don't you play a match with me, pretty boy?"

Kise looked quite surprised. "Well, but…I haven't had time to…" he paused and closed his eyes for a moment. "Ah, never mind. Fine, I'll do it, as a thanks for showing me such a great move in your scrimmage earlier."

If he had been in a more stable state of mind, maybe Kagami would have stopped to analyse that statement. As he was, he smiled darkly and moved towards the middle of the court, letting Kise have the ball first.

Kise stared at him for a long moment before suddenly shooting forward to Kagami's right. However, he wasn't quite out of it yet, so he followed closely to Kise. Unexpectedly, Kise did an insanely fast, total one-eighty and jumped for the shot. Kagami realised with a jolt that Kise was copying the move that he had executed just minutes ago.

 _And that just pisses me off even_ more _!_

At the last possible second, Kagami leaped to defend the net. He thought he had it, but Kise, impossibly, shoved through Kagami's significantly larger hand and smashed the ball into the net easily.

 _He's quicker_ and _stronger than me…Is this level of skill even possible?_

Kagami gritted his teeth in frustration as he landed soundly on his ass, feeling disoriented.

Kise sighed, closing his eyes. "I feel sort of uncomfortable about this… I can't just leave now, after that disappointment." Kise abruptly turned away from Kagami's pitiful form crumpled on the ground. His long, confident stride and smart shoes created a resonant echo in the large gym as he walked towards Kuroko, eyes unwavering.

"Please, give me Kurokocchi."

The team gasped as one and backed up slightly, clearly intimidated, but Kuroko showed no outwards signs of agreeing or disagreeing with Kise's request.

"Kurokocchi, transfer to my school." He reached a hand out towards Kuroko and smiled beatifically, as if he had every expectation that Kuroko would go along with him. Kagami nearly saw red. "Let's be together again."

The team broke out into various indignant exclamations, and Kuroko still did not respond. He simply stared at Kise, waiting and watching.

"I respect you a lot, Kurokocchi – you know that! You were amazing alongside me at Teikou. I just really hate to see you waste away your talents here, and I think you really belong at my side."

After a pause, Kise prompted Kuroko. "So…what do you say?"

As Kagami watched raptly, Kuroko's face seemed to open up slightly, and a wave of dread washed over him. _There's no way he would abandon us like this so early on…Would he?_ "I'm honored that you think so highly of me, Kise-kun."

 _Fucking horseshit. He_ is _going to leave us._

"However," Kuroko continued, bowing his head formally to look at the floor. "I must respectfully refuse your proposal," he said softly.

Kise reacted violently. "What? But why? It doesn't make any sense! Plus, this isn't like you, Kuroko." He stepped closer, spreading his hands in exasperation. "Winning used to be everything to you. Why didn't you go to a stronger school like mine, so you could _win_?"

Kagami began to stand up from his prone position on the floor, only to notice Kuroko's gaze flickering to him and back to Kise. "My thinking has changed in the last few months, Kise-kun. More importantly, I made a promise with Kagami-kun."

Kise stepped back and dropped his hands, shocked. "You didn't – "

Kuroko interrupted. "I promised him that together, we would defeat the Generation of Miracles."

Kise's eyes narrowed as Kagami made his way over. "You really _have_ changed, Kuroko! Jokes usually weren't like you either."

Kagami chuckled from just behind Kise, causing the blonde to whirl around, startled. _So, this is the Generation of Miracles? They truly are amazing…This guy wiped the floor with me, and there's still four who are even stronger than him?_

"What the hell do you think you're doing? You stole my line, Kuroko." Kagami laughed again, reaching out to ruffle Kuroko's hair.

"Actually, my sense of humor has not changed," Kuroko declared suddenly, irritably smoothing his hair back down. "That was not a joke, Kise-kun. I am serious."

Kise recoiled but stood his ground, glaring at Kuroko with an air of disgruntled betrayal about him.

Kagami smirked, immensely pleased. _Seems that everyone is fired up and ready to go – exactly the way I like it to be._

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks for reading, guys. How's the introduction of Kise? I promise, there's a lot more of him in the next chapter (lol, obviously). I just love writing Kagami. In my imagination, his thoughts just bounce off of the walls insanely. He's all over the place. Uhm...thanks again for reading, and check out my DN fic ("Veni, Vidi, Vici") if you get the chance. I'm off to go work on it now. :3**

 **\- Morb**


	3. I Am Ready

**A/N: Wooooowwwww, it took me eons to get this put together. Thanks to everyone who checks it out!**

 **Disclaimer: Tadatoshi Fujimaki is the master here.**

 **WC: 5900**

* * *

3\. I Am Ready

Kagami yawned hugely and stretched his arms up behind his head, smacking his lips together and blinking. The upperclassmen were all _ooh_ ing and _ahh_ ing at the enormous campus, with the pristine white buildings and practically fucking _glowing_ green grass –

As he stepped out of the shade and into the sunlight, his eyes burned in protest, and he groaned in agony.

"Kagami-kun," Kuroko said from Kagami's left side. It was a testament to just how out of it Kagami was that he didn't even flinch at the sudden unexpected address. "Your eyes seem even scarier than they normally do."

Kagami bared his teeth immaturely. "Screw you!" he snapped back, but he couldn't even muster enough energy to keep up the agitated expression on his face for more than a few moments. "I was a little too excited last night to sleep, okay?" he muttered in a more subdued tone, hoping against hope that Kuroko wouldn't make fun of him.

 _That's the understatement of the year._

In truth, Kagami had stayed awake until 3 AM picturing exactly how the game would go and imagining the distraught look on Kise's dumb face when Seirin smashed Kaijou into the ground.

Kuroko tilted his head slightly, but his usual blank, unassuming stare was still as unreadable as ever. "What are you, a kindergartner going on a field trip?"

Kagami glowered down at Kuroko but still found himself unable to generate any of his usual fury when Kuroko's impassive blue eyes gazed back up at him. Just as he opened his mouth to respond, a voice called out, catching his attention.

"Hey, you guys!" Kise greeted exuberantly, jogging up to them with a stunning smile. "This campus is pretty big compared to Seirin's, so I thought I should come walk you to the gym."

"Hello," Coach greeted kindly, but Kise barely spared her a distracted glance as his jog slowed to a purposeful walk. Kagami also attempted to capture his attention, addressing him outright, but Kise casually pushed past him to Kuroko.

 _Hey, don't ignore me, bastard!_

"Kurokocchi, ever since you turned me down, I've been crying myself to sleep every night," Kise cried exaggeratedly.

 _The fuck?_

Kagami, frustrated – well, _pissed_ – at being overlooked, stepped forward and stood next to Kuroko, directly in Kise's line of sight. "Hey, would you stop fucking around and just take us to the gym already?" Kagami said, trying not to shout.

Once again, Kise completely disregarded him. "You know, not a single girl has ever rejected me before – let alone as coldheartedly as you did!"

Kuroko's lip seemed to twitch slightly. "I know, Kise," Kuroko stated, showing no blatant outward emotions. Kagami noted the lack of an honorific. "You emailed me about it several times. Now, can you please stop joking?"

At Kuroko's request, Kise's theatrically hysterical facial expression shifted into a cocky smirk – _fucking models._ " _Ah,_ " he sighed, leaning back slightly and turning more towards Kagami as he spoke. "I must admit, I _am_ interested in the guy who Kurokocchi has told me so much about." At this, Kagami was slightly bewildered. Kuroko had _emailed_ Kise about him? _What the hell?_ "I can't say that I'm a huge fan of the name 'Generation of Miracles', but I can't simply ignore the challenge you presented me with when I last saw you." As Kise continued to walk by, Kagami followed his movement with his eyes. "I'm definitely not mature enough to just let it slide."

Kise turned just his head then, regarding Kagami condescendingly. "Sorry, but I'm going to have to crush you with every ounce of strength that I have," he swore darkly.

All of Kagami's fatigue from the late night-slash-morning suddenly evaporated as he chuckled. His fingers tingled, and he replied, "Sounds great."

After walking around the campus for a few minutes, the team finally approached a massive building. Kagami could hear the faint, familiar sounds of shoes squeaking on and basketballs pounding against polished wood, and he grinned exuberantly, unable to contain his excitement. "Here we are," Kise smiled magnanimously, holding the door open for Coach. She smiled as she entered the gymnasium, but then Kagami heard her gasp – not in a good way.

This, of course, caused all of Seirin's players to try and fit through the door at once so that they could see what she was seeing. Once they were all fully through the doorway, Kagami felt heat rise in his chest like a wildfire. "We're only playing on half a court?!" Coach exclaimed, seemingly shocked and scandalised. The gym had been split in half by thin green netting that hung from wall to wall, and on the other side of the net, Kagami could clearly see guys running drills.

 _The other side is being used for practice?_

Coach approached Kaijou's coach with a carefully schooled facial expression, and Kagami noticed the nets on the side of the court they'd be using. _What the fuck?_ "Hey, Kuroko," he whispered, nudging the blue-haired boy when he slowed to a stop just in front of Kagami. "Don't you think that net looks like it's past the expiration date?"

But Kuroko wasn't paying attention. Yet again, his eyes seemed to be trained on Kise as he disappeared into a different room, likely to change into his game uniform. Kagami tried not to grind his teeth in irritation.

The Kaijou coach lumbered closer to greet the team. "Oh, you're here. Welcome," he said, but the greeting clearly held no kindness. "Call me Coach Takeuchi. We'll only be using this half of the court. I hope you don't mind." He paused awkwardly. "Um, which of you is the coach?"

Coach raised her hand with a small, uncomfortable smile. "Hello, I'm Coach Aida Riko, and we look forward to playing you today!" she introduced herself with a bow.

Takeuchi's eyebrows shot up into his receding hairline. "Really. Well, alright."

"Lovely to meet you," Coach said, her voice strained. "But what is all this?" she asked, gesturing to the other side of the court.

"Exactly what it looks like," Takeuchi said, turning away. "We only made the simplest arrangements for this match."

 _Arrangements?_

"Well, there won't be anything worth learning if the other players were to watch this match, so we're having them practice as usual to avoid wasting precious training time," Takeuchi elaborated flippantly.

"I…see," Coach muttered.

"Despite the arrangements, you will still be playing against our regulars, so…I, uh, hope you don't let us triple your score." With that, he evidently decided the conversation was over, and he turned back to his own team, awkwardly waddling back towards the bench.

Kagami's vision faded to russet around the edges; he couldn't remember the last time he had been _this_ pissed off. "So…they're making fun of us. They think we _suck._ In other words, we're just an entertaining _fucking_ sideshow to their stupid practice," he spat angrily. Before he could say anything else, Coach was beckoning them to the bench to set their bags down.

Then, Kagami heard Kise's voice call out distraughtly, "But Coach, why not?"

"I can't let you play, Kise. Even on our team, which is full of aces from different middle schools, you are on a _totally_ different level." He shrugged in the face of Kise's vehement protests. "It's already unfair with just the other regulars. If I let you play, it wouldn't even be a match anymore!"

Kise's eyes widened. "Wha – " But before he could say anything else, Takeuchi had already turned away and left. Kise turned helplessly towards Seirin, and Kagami tried to convey the utter _revulsion_ he felt for Takeuchi in his glare. "I'm sorry, really, guys. Well, I'll still be on the bench, at least," Kise sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I'm sure that if you give his regular guys a beating, he'll put me in. And by the way," he continued, leaning in conspiratorially. His playfully challenging stare flickered over Kagami and rested on Kuroko. "If you can't do something this simple, then you really have no right to be going around and declaring war on the Generation of Miracles."

Kagami's hands balled into fists as he tried to hold himself back from launching forward at that _idiot._ "I'll walk to you to the locker room," Kise said after a short pause.

However, this time it was Kuroko who spoke up unexpectedly. "Don't bother." Kagami looked to him, surprised, but everyone was already moving towards the locker room. "You should warm up, Kise. We don't have time to wait for you," he finished. And with that, he disappeared behind the wall with everyone else.

* * *

"Let the practice match between Seirin High and Kaijou High begin!"

Five players from each team filed onto the court and faced each other. Kagami couldn't prevent the anxious tapping of his foot, and the guy standing across from him granted him a patronizing glance. "Nervous?" he asked snootily.

Kagami rolled his eyes and just barely convinced himself not to retort.

"Erm, Seirin…I said that we're starting, so can you please hurry up and get your fifth player onto the court?" the referee asked, looking at Captain as if he were an idiot.

On the end of the line, from directly to the ref's left, Kuroko spoke up. "There are five of us here," he declared (if something as soft as a whisper could be considered a _declaration_ ). The referee and the first three players to the right of him flinched back violently, and exclamations echoed from all over the gym about how _he has no presence_ and _that guy can play basketball?_

On behalf of Kuroko, who still seemed unaffected by the disparaging remarks, Kagami's intensity increased tenfold. As the players took their positions, Kagami clapped a hand on Kuroko's shoulder, garnering his attention. "Ready to kick their asses?" he asked, trying to get his teammate more fired up.

Kuroko simply nodded, and Kagami held in a sigh. _Well, that was reassuring._

At the whistle, Kagami jumped for the tip-off, but he missed it by a small margin. Number 8 tipped the ball to Number 4, who straightened up and dribbled confidently at a walking pace. _The captain?_ "Alright. First ball. Let's keep it up, team."

 _Definitely the captain._

On the next dribble, though, the ball never hit the ground. Before Kagami knew what was happening, Kuroko was dribbling down the attacking third of the court. While the other team scrambled formlessly to catch up, Kagami swerved and came up on Kuroko's right. As anticipated, Kaijou's captain caught up with Kuroko just inside of the three-point line, just in time to watch Kuroko use sleight-of-hand to sling the ball around perfectly into Kagami's waiting hands.

In two bounding strides, Kagami was perfectly positioned. He pushed up off of the ground using the ball of his foot and slammed the ball down into the net with all the strength he could garner. "Take that, assholes!" he yelled triumphantly with a fist-pump, unable to control his language. That was when he noticed that he was on the ground.

Gripping the net in his clenched fist.

"Oh."

 _Fuck._

The gymnasium erupted into chaos.

"Did he just _break_ the goal?"

"You've got to be kidding me. Is that possible?"

"One of the bolts is rusted, though."

"That's _still_ not normal!"

Kuroko stepped into Kagami's line of vision, eyes still steely and unimpressed, and Kagami addressed him. "Uhm…what now, Kuroko? Look at what I did."

Kuroko waved Kagami over in his direction. "What now?" he repeated to Kagami, who was slightly distracted by the hoop in his hand.

 _Huh, the hoop is bigger than I thought it was._

"Now, we apologise," he finished, tone mildly chastising. The two boys walked over to the opponent's bench, where Kise sat, looking horribly smug, along with Takeuchi, whose face seemed to be inventing a new level of _furious._

Kuroko bowed respectfully, which only seemed to stoke Kaijou's coach's rage. "Sorry, but we've broken your goal." Just for shits and giggles, Kagami began to spin the net around using just one finger, smirking triumphantly at the look on Takeuchi's face. "Do you think we could use the whole court now?"

* * *

In no time at all, the full court was being cleaned, the shitty nets were being lifted, and top-of-the-line nets were being lowered for their usage. Kagami walked alongside Kuroko, taking in the sight when everything was set up and in place.

 _It really is nice playing on a court that isn't on the street, and is part of a wealthy school._

Kagami thought that he could really _feel_ the energy of the players who had shaken hands with victory on this court. Looking down, Kagami couldn't help but wonder what Kuroko really thought about all this. _Surely, having played with an overwhelmingly strong veteran school just last year, Kuroko had experienced the sweet taste of a hard-won victory many times, right?_

Naturally, Kise had to interrupt his inner thoughts. "Hey, that's what I call a _beating_!" he mused quite loudly from behind them, clearly trying to claim their attention. Kagami turned towards Kise with an air of annoyance, and Kise continued obliviously. " _I've_ definitely never seen Coach make a face like that."

Kagami gritted his teeth. "You should tell him that that's what he gets for looking down on us! Right, Kuroko?"

Kuroko looked studiously at the floor. "Um…Kagami-kun…how much do you think a replacement goal would cost?"

Kagami was shocked and quite thrown off. "You think they'll make us pay for it?" Without answering, Kuroko began striding away at a very brisk pace, forcing Kagami to follow his teammate to finish the conversation. "Hey, wait up!"

He started to speak again, but Kagami's train of thought was quickly derailed when he took notice of the dozens of people starting to line up at the railing on the second floor of the gym in order to watch the game. _I know that some of those guys were the ones practicing on the other side of the net,_ Kagami thought, _but there weren't any_ girls _before…_

Suddenly, however, the girls began cheering exuberantly, hopping, leaning over the railing and pointing at someone behind Kagami.

He spun around, only to see Kise, who was apparently being put in the game. The cheering grew louder and more excited as more people began to realise that it was _Kise Ryouta down there, ohmigod!_

"You're finally here," Kagami said, keeping his voice as level as possible. The unreleased adrenaline was still pumping through his veins, and Kagami found himself forcing his fingers to stop twitching at his sides.

"He has pretty high intensity now that he's serious… I definitely wouldn't expect him to be a model," Captain muttered, sounding vaguely surprised.

"And it's not just an act," Kuroko tacked on, causing the captain to twitch only slightly. "He is a very intense player."

Kagami tried to get a grasp on Kise's aura. Unlike Kuroko's presence, which was subtle to the point of being nonexistent, Kise's presence was large, attractive, confident – designed to grab everyone's attention. Every one of his movements was fluid, controlled.

"Kagami-kun," Kuroko tugged on the hem of Kagami's jersey. Kagami started slightly and glanced down at him, a reprimand on the tip of his tongue, but he was interrupted. "You must have noticed, but Kise-kun is very good at copying moves. So, please, don't be alarmed if he copies your trick shot – or any of your other moves. Don't let it get to you," he finished.

Kagami rolled his eyes. "I'm not always a _total_ hothead, idiot." He patted Kuroko's shoulder lightly and turned back towards his mark, who seemed to be having a conversation with Kaijou's captain. He was surprised when Kise looked at him and gave a little challenging smirk, but the surprise morphed into irritation when Kise brushed him off easily in favor of praising Kuroko. Kise and his captain exchanged a few more words under their breath before splitting apart.

"Ready to be crushed, Kagami?" Kise said, stretching and raising an eyebrow.

Kagami scowled. "I am ready – to crush _you._ "

Kise grinned, and the game was on.

* * *

The first minute after the restart left Kagami reeling.

 _What the literal_ fuck _just happened?_

Much to his chagrin, Kise had almost perfectly imitated the move he had just executed on the half court. Kaijou's captain had seemed upset at him for not breaking the net, but Kagami knew his own strength – knew that Kise's dunk _had_ been stronger than his own.

As he watched, Kise waved at some of his fangirls before turning back around to face the court. "I can't say the same for all my ex-girlfriends, but when it comes to basketball, I never neglect to return the favor," he quipped at Kagami with a self-satisfied little smile.

Kagami felt the all-too-familiar rage flare up in his chest, but –

 _Don't let it get to you._

Remembering Kuroko's words, he exhaled heavily and met Kise's eyes. "Bring it on," he dared lowly, attempting to keep at least a modicum of calm.

In the next play, Kuroko received a ball from Captain and quickly relayed it to Kagami, leaving the defense tripping over themselves. Wide open for the goal, Kagami bounded forward, up and slammed the ball through the hoop. Then he turned to face his team, fist clenched. "Let's go all out!"

For the next few minutes, Kaijou and Seirin fought back and forth, the play fluid and the shots constant. It seemed to Kagami that the game was going nowhere, even though when he looked back, the defense was giving it their all.

Kagami received the ball from Kuroko again and set off dribbling furiously down the court, but Kise was practically on top of him. So, in the middle of his run, he cut back and jumped into a fade-away to take the shot. However, he apparently hadn't been fast enough, as Kise was able to palm the ball before it hit the peak of its arc and take it down into a dribble. At the other basket, before Kagami could jump for it, Kise imitated his fade-away – _but his cut was so much stronger than mine!_ – and scored, sending the spectators into a frenzy.

 _Not only is he fucking copying me, he's getting better every time!_

Kagami ground his teeth together and tried to keep his frustration at bay as Captain began dribbling to set up the next play.

The player who was marking him looked over at him incredulously. Kagami wasn't sure if the guy was intimidated or impressed, but either way, it wasn't getting him any closer to his goal. Before the play could commence, however, Coach was calling a time-out.

The team jogged over to the bench, and Kagami chugged water, panting. It was only then that it hit him just how sweaty he already was – and it was only five minutes in. Coach paced in front of the players, looking nervous, and Kagami sighed, feeling restless.

"How many points are you going to let them _score_?" Kaijou's fat-ass coach bellowed at the other bench abruptly. Every one of Seirin's players' heads swiveled towards him as his players seemed to flinch back. Kaijou's players then began to mutter amongst themselves, gesturing at Seirin's bench – clearly plotting.

Thankfully, Coach was ready to strategise too. She pulled a clipboard out and kneeled on the floor with it. Then she pulled out some black and white chips to symbolize each team's members. "We need to figure out a way to stop Kise-kun," she said resolutely. "Honestly, I'm surprised that Kagami isn't enough to handle him." She closed her eyes, as if contemplating the best move. "Maybe we should put another player on him?" Coach suggested unsurely.

 _No!_

"No!" Kagami blurted. Coach turned towards him, and eyebrow raised in question. "Wait a damn second." Then, he decided that was too aggressive and tried to rectify it. "Please."

Coach quirked an eyebrow and opened her mouth to speak, but Kuroko interrupted. "Please don't be so hasty, Coach," he said, looking off at the court. "There's another way out of this situation."

Kagami turned expectantly towards Kuroko, as the rest of the team did the same.

"He has a weakness," Kuroko said quietly, still looking away.

Kagami was floored. _Why only wait until now to mention it?_

"A weakness?" Coach parroted. She practically launched herself at Kuroko, eyes wide and ready to snatch up any new information, but Kuroko shifted awkwardly on the bench, still averting his eyes.

 _He seems uncomfortable,_ Kagami thought confusedly.

"Well…it might be a stretch to call it that," he continued. "More importantly, I apologise." Kuroko sighed, clearly reluctant to go on with whatever he had to say. "There is one more even larger problem."

 _What?_

"The pace is far higher than I expected," Kuroko admitted, adjusting one of his black armbands. "Because of this, my effectiveness is already decreasing."

Kagami was even _more_ shocked by this. " _What?_ " he said aloud.

Kuroko looked towards him briefly before turning back to Coach, still fidgeting with his wristband all the while. "I can't use misdirection for a full forty minutes. After some time, it becomes ineffective. But because this game is already so intense, I may not even be able to use misdirection past the first half."

 _Okay, he just lost me._

Kagami was about to ask Kuroko to explain what the fuck _misdirection_ was, but Coach was interrogating him, and no one else could get a word in edgewise. "Why won't misdirection work for a full forty minutes?" she asked, practically shouting.

Kuroko leaned back slightly, eyeing her hands warily, which were clenching and unclenching in mid-air as if she were grasping for a neck to strangle. "The more they see me do it, the more they get used to it. And the more they get used to it, the less useful it is," he said, clear blue eyes honest and uncompromising. "Sorry."

Coach leaned in closer.

Kuroko leaned away.

" _Why didn't you mention this earlier?_ " Coach screeched at exactly the same time that Kagami thought it. She yanked him into a headlock.

Kuroko croaked out, "I'm sorry, you never asked."

But Kagami suspected that it was more likely that he was embarrassed to admit that he had a weakness at all. He could understand such a feeling. As everyone gathered to pull Coach off of Kuroko and pull her away from the edge of what seemed to be a panic attack, Kagami looked at Kuroko.

Kuroko was staring at the ground, rubbing his neck where Coach had apparently pressed too hard, and in that moment, Kagami thought that Kuroko, whose power usually seemed so surreal and _magical_ (for lack of a word that didn't sound completely fucking _girly_ ), looked painfully human. Kagami was on the verge of saying something to him, but then the referees were calling the end of the time-out.

Kagami lightly patted his cheeks to refocus himself.

"I'll just keep marking the same man," he stated surely, striding out onto the court. "Please," he tacked on again, looking back at Coach almost as an afterthought. Her face tightened as she prepared to argue, but Kagami cut her off before she could get a word out. "Just…give me more time, and I'll definitely find a way to take him down!" Kagami asserted, facing forward once again.

"Dammit, Kagami!" she shouted, shrill, but he didn't turn around. "Okay, whatever. Switch to zone defense, everyone! Strengthen the middle of the court, and go to help if Kise-kun is coming! Kise is the first priority!" Her commanding voice carried over the whole court, and the crowd let out a roar as Kise stepped out, smirking.

The match re-started.

Kagami thought that the idea of the box-and-one was pretty good, but after just moments of marking Kise, Kaijou's captain suddenly jumped, shot and scored a three-pointer. Kise chuckled from behind him, and Kagami's head whipped around to stare at him, eyes narrowed. "Don't underestimate my seniors," Kise said, a tinge of smugness in his tone. "I'm not the only player on the court."

Soon enough, people were shouting from all directions, and Kagami was growing more and more frustrated at his team's inability to score. Every damn shot he took was slapped out of the air by _that goddamn asshole, Kise._ On top of all of that, Kagami was slowly coming to the realization that he could _see_ Kuroko. He could see him moving about the court, connecting passes, and he could also see that, every once in a while, a pass to him would be intercepted.

 _If I can see him, then_ they _can see him._

After the next dunk that Kagami attempted (and failed) to make, Kise stepped forward, hand planted on his hip and superiority emanating from him like a pervasive stench. "Well, Kagami," Kise said, adopted a disappointed look. "Isn't it about time you admit it? Right now, it's ten years too early for _you_ to be challenging the Generation of Miracles."

"What?!" Kagami snarled, leaning towards Kise intimidatingly, but Kise didn't flinch. On the contrary, he lazily gestured towards the scoreboard.

"The point difference is _way_ too big for you to possibly catch up," Kise drawled. "You can't win basketball games solely with formation or strategy. Basketball is firstly a game about _size._ " Kise examined his nails, clearly trying to come off as aloof and casual to incite Kagami's rage.

 _And damn him, but it was working like a fucking charm._

Suddenly, Kise looked him straight in the eyes very seriously. "It's just that…looking at our two teams, the difference in size and ability is too big. The only one who could have had a chance was you, but I think I've seen the extent of your strength now."

Kise's mouth turned down slightly at one end, and he continued while Kagami struggled not to _punch that asshat_ and get himself ejected from the game. "I'll acknowledge your potential, but you're still no match for me. It doesn't matter what technique you use; as long as I see it, I'll always pay it back with twice as much power." Then, he smiled, and it was chilling. "No matter how much you struggle, you can't win against me. Just remember that reality isn't as sweet as your dreams, Kagami." With that, Kise turned around, apparently done with his spiel.

 _Can't…win?_

Against his will, a hysterical little chuckle bubbled out of Kagami's mouth. Kise tensed and turned back to him, looking confused and mildly irritated. Another one followed, and three more after that. Before he knew it, Kagami was clutching his stomach, laughing in a way he hadn't done in years. Everyone on the court turned to look at him, perplexed, and the chatter in the crowd of spectators faded to nothing.

"Sorry, sorry," Kagami said, waving a hand in apology. "I just got so happy that I couldn't hold it in. It's…it's been a while since anyone challenged me like that."

Kise quirked an eyebrow, seemingly unimpressed.

"Well," Kagami amended slowly. "In America, it was normal; it happened almost every day."

That got Kise's attention, of course. " _What?!_ You trained in America? That's awesome!"

Kagami shrugged. "But you know, I totally jumped to the conclusion that basketball sucked in Japan, and that's what I've believed since I got back here." He ran a hand through his hair, somewhat embarrassed. "I regret that now."

Kise narrowed his eyes, apparently gearing up to retaliate.

"After all," Kagami continued, cutting Kise off before he could start. "life would be nothing without challenges. Without strong opponents, living isn't fun – so it's perfect if I can't win!" Kagami grinned at Kise, feeling adrenaline clear away all of the pain in his aching muscles. "I'm _not_ done! It starts _now._ Besides, thanks to your little speech, I now know what your weakness is."

Kise stepped back, shocked, and Kagami noticed how Kaijou's team members all looked perplexed. Kagami looked around, searching for Kuroko. _I guess I can understand why he didn't want to say it outright._

"Ah!" Kagami exclaimed in triumph, snatching the back of Kuroko's jersey. Kuroko went reluctantly. His face was blank as usual, but Kagami knew that Kuroko knew what he was going to reveal.

"You can do anything as long as you see it, right? But how about if you don't see it?" Kagami smirked. "This guy is hard to notice from the start, so _watching_ him would be impossible, right? Even – no, _especially_ – for someone with insane physical strength like you, no matter how hard you try to be invisible, you can't. _You_ can't use Kuroko's style of basketball."

"In short," Kagami concluded, slinging an arm heavily across Kuroko's thin shoulders and relishing in the tight frustration making its way across Kise's face, "This guy is your weakness!"

Kuroko squirmed. "Kagami-kun, please get off of me. You're very heavy," he mumbled.

Gasps and cries of indignation sounded out around the gymnasium, and as the pair waited for Kise to respond, Kuroko lightly shrugged Kagami's arm off of his shoulders. Kagami looked down at Kuroko, feeling vaguely, irrationally bothered.

"So what?" Kise snapped. His harsh tone caused Kagami to look up at him in surprise. Then he seemed to realise that he'd been unnecessarily sharp, and he smoothed out his facial expression to something resembling aloofness and unruffled confidence. "It's true. Kurokocchi is…Only Kuroko's play style is impossible for me. But what does that change?"

Kagami opened his mouth to answer, but before he could get a word out, the referee was calling the end of the first quarter. Kagami gritted his teeth, and growled back, "It changes everything. I'll make you _cry_ in the second quarter."

* * *

During the break, every single one of the team members was pitching in, proposing ideas, shooting down bad ones, and soon enough, Coach had solidified a game plan for the second quarter. Kagami had confidence that it would work.

"I think this will work," Coach said, looking thoughtful. "Especially since Kagami-kun has finally calmed down."

Kagami looked up at her, genuinely puzzled. "What? I've been calm since the beginning of the match."

Two of the second-years turned towards him, simultaneously saying, "You were totally pissed off!"

Kagami considered his actions during the match so far, and he could only come to the conclusion that he had been keeping a far more level head than he usually would in this situation.

"Just remember: to pull this off, Kagami-kun, you really have to coordinate and cooperate with Kuroko-kun. Can you do it?" Coach asked, leaning down and giving him a very serious, expectant look.

Kagami looked away from her prying gaze, which, unfortunately, resulted in him looking at Kuroko, who was staring up at him with his usual blank, disarming stare. Kagami scooted away from Kuroko slightly and answered hesitantly. "Uh…I guess…?"

Before he could even register any movement, Kuroko reached out and jabbed him in the stomach, causing Kagami to involuntarily release a short ( _and very fucking manly_ ) yelp of pain. "What the hell was that for?" Kagami barked breathlessly at Kuroko, shivering from the aftershocks of the blow.

Kuroko fixed him with a stare that seemed a lot more present than his usual blank gazes. "We _are_ going to defeat Kise, right?" he asked steadily.

Kagami realised that his discomfort with working with Kuroko was probably unfounded. Kagami was a good player, Kuroko was a good player ( _of sorts_ ), and although the two of them were in no way compatible, he should be more confident that they could make it work and win the match.

Out loud, Kagami snapped, "Of course!" He also took great pleasure in the choked-off little gasp that hissed into Kuroko's mouth when Kagami returned the favor with a stomach-jab of his own.

Then, the referee was blowing his whistle and calling for the second quarter to start, and Coach was ushering everyone onto the court with an air of urgency and excitement.

The crowd still cheered wholeheartedly for Kaijou, and Kagami relished in the thought of their shock and awe when Seirin became the team that stood victorious.

Just as before, once the game started, everything was moving very quickly. Kagami received a pass from one of the second-years ( _Isamu? Itsuki?_ ) and found Kise right on his ass. Kise must have seen something in his face because he suddenly seemed confused. "Something did change," he said quietly, sounding a bit thrown off. Kagami turned fluidly and drove towards the net, prompting Kise to follow just as closely as he had for the whole first quarter – clearly, he had no idea what was coming for him.

Shifting his grip, Kagami made a behind-the-back pass, hoping against hope that Kuroko would be there to receive it. To even Kagami's pleasant surprise, Kise turned to look in horrified shock, only to see Kuroko standing there alone as Kagami sprinted off with the ball. It almost worked _too_ well.

 _How fast can Kuroko actually pass? I didn't even see him_ touch _it!_

Not one to dwell on unimportant things, Kagami jumped and successfully completed a layup – and the crowd went wild, as they say. Kagami landed on the ground solidly, the sweet taste of victory at the tip of his tongue.

The next play went in much the same way, with Kagami bounce-passing to Kuroko. Kise, evidently expecting the ball to come back to Kagami, moved quickly into his path as soon as he noticed that Kagami had relinquished the ball. However, Kuroko completely changed the pass's path and launched it at Captain, who made a smooth three-pointer.

It wasn't quite perfect (as was made evident when Kagami passed to empty space on more than one occasion), but it was helping Seirin gain ground. Kagami looked up at the scoreboard and almost felt like whooping in happiness when he realised that the score difference was only three points.

Kuroko, who was standing behind Kagami, made a noise of some sort, causing Kagami to turn around in interest.

"Kise," Kuroko said to Kise, who looked supremely frustrated. "you're a very strong player. Neither I nor Kagami-kun alone is a match for you. But if we work together, the two of us are more than capable of fighting you."

Kise's face seemed unable to decide if it wanted to be proud or irritated. "You have changed, after all, Kurokocchi…" he finally said. "You certainly weren't playing this kind of basketball back at Teikou."

Kagami looked at Kuroko curiously, but doing so revealed nothing, as usual.

"But…" Kise continued, his voice gaining strength and conviction. "This won't stop me – I'm the one who'll win! So what if I can't copy Kurokocchi's cooperation play? Kuroko can't hold out for the whole forty minutes, so…" Kise lunged forward and smoothly received a pass. "It'll only get worse for you in the second half!"

Kagami laughed, swiping sweat from his forehead to clear his vision. "No, that's not true, either."

Kise swirled around to face the hoop, only to nearly step into Kuroko, who waited less than a meter away, clearly in a defensive stance. Kise, clearly stunned, stopped in his tracks. "K-kuro…Kurokocchi?!" he exclaimed, sounding almost… _offended_.

Kagami grinned.

 _The game is on._

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks for not giving up on this story. You're all lovely people. I hope the chapter wasn't too bad and revealed a bit about the characters.**

 **\- Morb**


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